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Linux is an extraordinary computer operating system. It powers everything from the U.S. Department of Defense, to the International Space Station, to most of the world's Internet servers and supercomputers. The reasons for this aren't difficult to find: it's fast, reliable, versatile and super secure, so it doesn't get viruses. Because it's Open Source, it's infinitely flexible and gives everyone the power to do anything with their computer.

Despite the enormous advantages it has over traditional operating systems, we recognized that the biggest barrier to the success of Linux on desktop computers was that it wasn't user-friendly enough. Linux-based operating systems were generally designed for engineers by engineers, with little consideration for regular users. We decided to fix this.

We've designed Zorin OS to have the perfect blend of power and usability for everyone. We built Zorin OS to be as easy as possible, so you won't need to learn a thing to get started thanks to its familiar user interface. Zorin OS comes loaded with all the apps and tools you need out of the box for browsing the web, working, playing and everything in between.

By bringing together the power of Linux and making it possible for anyone to use it, we've created an operating system that makes your computer better so you can achieve more than you could ever before.

Zorin OS Lite

Zorin OS 12 Lite, the biggest leap forward in our lightweight operating system for old and low-spec computers.

With Zorin OS 12 Lite, we have re-thought what the Zorin OS experience can be for low spec machines and computers as old as 14 years. We have built Zorin OS 12 Lite to be a more streamlined concentration of, not a reduction of, the original version, with the same simple user experience, running the same extraordinary apps.

New Desktop Environment

To achieve our new goals for Zorin OS 12 Lite, we chose to move away from LXDE and adopt XFCE as the base desktop environment. This allows us to create an experience that is not only more familiar and consistent with Zorin OS 12, but is also more customizable and extensible than ever before. The result is a computing experience that’s more intuitive, beautiful and versatile, while keeping resource usage light.

Zorin Appearance

Zorin OS 12 Lite is the first version of Zorin OS Lite with Zorin Appearance pre-installed. Zorin Appearance brings together the functionality of Zorin Look Changer and Zorin Theme Changer into one app. With a click of a button, you can change the desktop layout to match that of Windows versions. The Ultimate and Business editions of Zorin OS 12 Lite also feature Gnome 2 and macOS-like layouts. Zorin Appearance is the go-to app for customizing your desktop, quickly and simply.

Updated System Apps and Technologies

Many of the built-in system apps have seen extensive improvements both visually and under the hood.

Zorin OS 12 Lite is powered by Linux Kernel version 4.8, which now works with even more hardware and introduces performance enhancements and security improvements.

As Zorin OS 12 Lite is based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, it will be supported with security updates until April 2021.